Re: Just an old-fashioned question

>Now, when I looked old-fashioned up in my Spanish
>dictionary it gives
>
>anticuado, de modo pasado
>
>My first reaction is "Those both cary a negative
>connotation."  Of course I don't know that for sure.
>My dictionary doesn't say.  So my question is CAN
>either of them carry a positive connotation?
>
>Part of the problem is that the English cognate,
>antiquated really is negative.  I can't think of a
>positive-connotation usage for it.  _De modo pasado_
>doesn't sound particularly friendly to the poor past
>either.
I have never heard or used "de modo pasado" and Google
doesn't return a single occurrence of that expression
either.

"Anticuado" is just like its English cognate "antiquated",
that is, really negative.

OTOH, "a la antigua" can be positive or negative, which
I think is what you were looking for. The full form
"a la antigua usanza" I perceive to be mostly positive.
Note, however, that saying to someone "¡Qué antigua eres!"
(a usual expression among women) is always negative.

Another interesting expression is to relate something to
"la abuela/el abuelo". It is used frequently in advertising,
for example "Nuevas magdalenas -insert TM-: las magdalenas
de la abuela", which doesn't necessarily (and doesn't
actually most of the time) have anything to do with any
real grandmother but it's simply a trick to associate the
product with the endearment that people usually associate
with their grandparents and also with the lore and experience
that has traditionally been associated with the elderly.
Thus, saying of something that it's done following "la
receta de la abuela" is saying that it is done "like in
the good ol' days".

Cheers,
Javier